The Last Of The Silversmiths

January 05, 1992

The last of Connecticut's major silver manufacturers, J. C. Boardman & Co. of Wallingford, has failed. That is a loss for the entire state and, in a way, for the entire nation. As a business, Boardman & Co. was not that old by Connecticut standards. It was founded four decades ago in New Haven and then moved in 1961 to Wallingford. But the Boardman family traced its silver-making roots to the Revolutionary War-era in Hartford. Now the family firm is going out of business, heavily in debt and holding liquidation sales. A few years ago, it employed 125 people. When production ended late last year, there were only 20.

In its 40 years, the company provided custom-made, finely crafted silver pieces to some of the best-known people in the country and the world, including Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis and Barbara Bush. It also provided mass-produced items to lesser-known people who probably treasured them, and the name of Boardman, just as much.

The company's president, who is the son of the founder, cites a variety of reasons for its demise, including loss of a major corporate client two years ago, the recession, less demand from department stores, which are in trouble themselves, and competition from lower-quality imports.

Whatever the reasons, the company's end also signifies the end of an industry that brought a good measure of fame to Connecticut. The silver industry once employed 30,000 people in the state. Wallingford is the mother town of Meriden, which still is known, poignantly now, as the Silver City. The working of silver into beautiful patterns helped keep alive, through more than two centuries, the tradition of Connecticut as a place for fine craftsmanship. Now the link with the precious metal is being severed, and that is sad.